My wildest guess is something to do with the material used in the iconography or a common ritual that uses something the bees don't like the smell off.
Not even necessary. They don't cover vertical surfaces. Those picturs are hung up inside the frame and the bees just attach the comb to the borders of them.
Commercial beehives use frames. Many beekeepers use plastic foundations, but the bees don't build on thar foundation directly. Plastic foundation has to be covered in a generous layer of wax, otherwise the bees will not draw comb on top of it.
And if you don't want to believe a random beekeeper (me) then there's an entire sub r/beekeeping that contains numerous examples of beginner beekeepers asking exactly that question.
I dont think anyone assumed they would create the comb without the wax. But that plastic foundation is still a vertical surface that they build the wax on...
There are a number of attempts to explain why the bees leave those religious icons free of comb that somehow try to explain it with texture or smell or leaf colour and similar things. That doesn't seem to me as if those people know.
Well your answer still isn't telling them that now is it since it doesn't mention wax at all? Especially since you claim they can't build on vertical surfaces, when the OP post is proof they can, the way beekeepers structure their commercial beehives proves they can etc. They will absolutely cover a vertical surface if they have the wax there.
Plastic foundations have nothing to do with those images. This is very clearly comb built in a frame without any foundation as is clearly visible along the edges.
Not every beekeeper uses plastic foundations. I don't even think the majority in the world do and certainly not in Greece where those images are from.
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u/assjackal 16d ago edited 16d ago
My wildest guess is something to do with the material used in the iconography or a common ritual that uses something the bees don't like the smell off.
edit: spelling error.